Author
Topic: How to store capped honey whilst waiting for the other hives to 'catch up' (Read 1011 times)

Hi everybody, I have some hives that have boxes of fully capped honey-others that still have a little way to go. I don't have my own extractor yet so can't extract in the fly-what's the best thing to do? I'm still in a flow at the moment. Should I just leave the capped honey on the hives putting a box of undrawn foundation underneath the capped stuff? Also, at what point is a frame sufficiently capped to extract? 70+ percent capped?

If you do not have SHB back like the good old days, you can leave honey supers on hives until fall to extract all at once. But now, with SHB, I would not give them the extra room to run around and hide. You can place empties under the almost full boxes and pull the full ones when 90 to 100 percent capped. Once a box is pulled, you can store in the freezer or in bags after freezing (and drying). You can also just pull the fully capped frames out and replace also.

I have found if i extract anything under 90/95% capped i get honey that candys very quickly. they only cap when the honey has reduced the water content to the correct levels. I would wait.

Take a new frame to bunnings and you will find a tub that fits 10 frames. You screw a little wood to each end for the frame to sit on and you can store it in there in the shed for weeks or months. Costs about $10-15